"The South Florida Experience from a Black Perspective."

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Gimenez sets tone in County government

Newly elected Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez was on This Week with Michael Putney this morning. Not surprisingly he talked about measures he's already put in place to set the tone for cost-cutting in County government.

Gimenez will receive half the compensation of Mayor Carlos Alvarez and has eliminated the drivers and security that Alvarez had on staff. His senior staff will be expected to cut costs also but he did not say how much.

Gimenez's no-nonsense management style is what the community needs but will be somewhat painful to endure. To plug the $300-400 million budget shortfall will mean jobs will be affected. The formula is rather clear and options limited. Gimenez has to deal with the employee unions and the negotiations will not be pretty.

Gimenez made it clear that he will be more hands on than his predecessor and will attend as many County commission meetings as possible. Charter reform will return and look for Gimenez to be forced to push through an 8 year term limit for his former colleagues.

County commission meetings just got more interesting with Gimenez as strong mayor. Stay tuned.

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